Thursday, March 21, 2019

Auburn Sports Breakdown: Auburn wins SEC, survives vs NMSU, spring practice begins for football, don't forget about these 2 athletes.

    First off, Auburn Men's Basketball clinched the SEC Title. Sunday, Auburn beat Tennessee 84-64 in a blow out win. Then Thursday, Auburn survived New Mexico State 78-77. The game came down to an air-balled 3 pointer by the Aggies of NMSU. Auburn plays Saturday vs Kansas. 

    Auburn Football's spring practice has started. We got our first look at freshman QB Bo Nix. We also saw RBs Coach Cadillac Williams coach for the first time. Two Auburn players will miss spring practice because of track. They are WR Anthony Schwartz and RB Shaun Shivers. A few more will miss because of injuries. 

    Auburn has two athletes in different sports who you probably forgot about. Auburn Football will gain transfer safety Kendarian Handy-Holly who transferred last year from Minnesota. Also, PG Jamal Johnson for Auburn Basketball will be in Auburn's mix next year. He transferred from Memphis last year. 

    Auburn Baseball pitching is on fire but starting pitcher Jack Owen is out due to shoulder tightness. Hopefully he'll be back soon. 

    Auburn Basketball Highlights vs Tennessee and New Mexico State: 
   

Monday, March 11, 2019

Auburn Sports Breakdown: LB decommitts, Deshaun Davis sends powerful message, AU Hoops SEC Tourney

    First off, 4-star 2020 LB Demouy Kennedy of Theodore, AL decommitted from the Tigers following a visit FSU. Auburn dropped from No. 9 to No. 15 in recruiting rankings after this announcement. 
    
    Former Auburn LB Deshaun Davis sent a powerful message to NFL teams. 'Take me or play against me.' Davis' biggest criticism is his height. He's only 5-11 so lots of NFL teams will probably pass him on in the draft. But despite that, Davis has been blowing up interviews with confident quotes. 
    
    Auburn Basketball has claimed six straight victories following a win over South Carolina in the SEC Tournament. The Tigers defeated Missouri 71-61 on Thursday then defeated South Carolina on Friday 73-64. Now the Tigers will face Florida who knocked off LSU. The game will air on ESPN tomorrow at 12:00 CT. If Auburn knocks of Florida, they'll be in the SEC Tournament finals. Auburn point guard Jared Harper had 27 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists in vs South Carolina. He clearly led Auburn to a 9 point win against SC.     
    
    Two major Auburn targets are announcing they're commitment this month. One a grad-transfer WR and the other a 2020 QB. La'Micheal Pettway, a grad-transfer from Arkansas is visiting for the second time this week and would give Auburn much needed depth at WR. AU looks to be the favorite to land Pettway. Fun Fact: La'Michael Pettway is former Auburn RB Kamryn Pettway's cousin. Also 4-star QB from Hoover, AL Robby Ashford will commit this month. The race is between Auburn and Georgia and Auburn looks to be the favorite. Ashford will not only play football but also baseball. 


    Time for Auburn Basketball regular season awards!

MVP - Bryce Brown - Senior - SG
Brown knocked down tons of threes this year. He's the best dribbler on the team and is a lock-down defender.

Most Improved Player of the Year - Chuma Okeke - Sophomore - SF
Okeke played great all around. Steals, blocks, rebounds, 3s, dunks, you name it. He really improved this year as a sophomore. 

Defensive Player of the Year - Chuma Okeke - Sophomore - SF
A large majority of Auburn's blocks and stearl came from Chuma Okeke.

6th Man of the Year - Malik Dumbar - Senior - SF
Malik Dumbar hit threes, made dunks, and blocked shots in his final year at AU. He came of the bench explosive.

Assist Man of the Year - Jared Harper - PG
Jared Harper's passes never seize to amaze. He racked up tons of assists and is a huge part of why Auburn's successful.

Comeback Player of the Year - Danjel Purifoy - Junior - SG
After the suspension prior to the FBI investigation, Purify lit it up. That's why he gets the award.

Newcomer of the Year - Samir Doughty - Junior - SG
A huge addition to Auburn's team game from Samir Doughty. He stepped up and started for lots of games. 

Little Guy, Big Attitude Award - J'Von McCormick - Junior - PG
J'Von McCormick stepped up for Jared Harper as back-up PG. He really showed off his athletic ability. 

Big Guy, Big Attitude Award - Austin Wiley - Junior - C
Austin Wiley's return sparked Auburn's team even though he struggled with injuries. 

Underrated Player of the Year - Horace Spencer - Senior - C
Horace Spencer came out of no where and proved successful.

Freshman of the Year - Will Macoy - Freshman - SG
Will Macoy got very little playing time best scored when he did.

    AU Basketball Assistant Ira Bowman has been suspended following an investigation from when he was at Penn. Bowman will not cause any problems for Auburn though. 

    Auburn center Austin Wiley has returned to play. He was out with a knee injury for most of the year. Wiley had 2 points in AU's win vs South Carolina. 

    Auburn Baseball pitching is on fire as the Tigers claimed their 10th straight win against South Alabama on Tuesday. The Tigers face #21 Tennessee on Friday night. 
    

Saturday, March 9, 2019

Auburn upsets Tennessee 84-80

Auburn has upset No. 5 Tennessee at home. The Tigers defeated the Vols 84-80 on senior day. The Auburn crowd know as "The Jungle", was the loudest it's been all year. The player of the game was Auburn SF Chuma Okeke. He had 22 points and clearly sparked the Tigers to a comeback W. Auburn did a great job of drawing fouls against some of Tennessee's best players. The Vols second best player, Admiral Schofield got two fouls early, then got another when he came back in. Overall he fouled out. UT's best player Grant Williams finished with 3 fouls. Tennessee's best player in the game was clearly PG Jordan Bone who had 17 points. This was Auburn's fourth strait win and will probably be ranked after beating Alabama on the road and then upsetting Tennessee. This is the first time since 1994 that Auburn has beat a top five team. 

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Breaking down Auburn's 2019 schedule

Auburn's 2019 schedule is incredibly tough featuring away SEC opponents. Let's break it down. 

Aug, 31 vs Oregon:
This one will be a hard fought battle. Playing @ Dallas vs one of the best QBs in College Football in Justin Herbert will be tough. And a match-up to watch will be freshman QB Bo Nix (AUB) vs freshman DE and No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 19, Kayvon Thibodeaux (ORE).

Sept, 7 vs Tulane:
Auburn should take care of business in this one as Tulane lacks team chemistry and athleticism. But, Auburn will face a talented QB in Justin McMillan who was projected to possibly be a starter for LSU but decided to transfer to Tulane. 

Sept, 14 vs Kent State:
Kent State clearly not a big threat to Auburn but could be a slight challenge because former Auburn QB Woody Barrett will be under center for the Golden Flashes. Barrett is a talented QB who has more experience than most of Auburn's QBs. 

Sept, 21 @ Texas A&M 
This one will be tough as Texas A&M is rising. The fact that the Tigers have to go play at College Station is intimidating. Auburn has won the last two meetings between the teams but that streak could very well be brought to an end in 2019. 

Sept, 28 vs Mississippi State
Auburn is hungry for revenge against MSU. Last year the Bulldogs defeated the Tigers. In last year's game, two costly mistakes by Auburn occurred that changed their season. A wide open flea-flicker pass dropped by WR Darrius Slayton and a fumble at the half-yard line by Tigers' RB JaTarvious Whitlow. This year's meeting between Auburn and MSU should be a good one. But most things point to Auburn because Mississippi State's starting QB will be Keyaton Thompson, talented but raw. AU and MSU have several similarities. Both lost their starting QBs to the NFL, both will have inexperienced QBs under center, and both lost a few top defenders.

October, 5 @ Florida
This game will be one of the toughest all year for Auburn. They'll travel to "The Swamp" to take on Dan Mullen's rising offense. Florida boasts one of the most hostile environments in College Football. But, Florida is losing several talented players to the NFL including DE Jachi Polite, OT Jawaan Taylor, OT Martez Ivey, DE, CeCe Jefferson, S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, and WR Tyrie Cleveland. This match-up could be the most exiting game between the two teams. It'll be interesting to see how Bo Nix for AU handles the Florida environment .

October, 19 @ Arkansas
Auburn usually handles Arkansas pretty well as they've won the last three games. Auburn looks to and probably will extend the streak to four in a row. But Arkansas got themselves a QB in Ben Hicks from SMU. Ben Hicks is talented but Arkansas probably doesn't have the fire power to take down the Tigers.

October, 26 @ LSU
This is obviously the toughest away game for the Tigers this season. LSU probably has the toughest environment in the SEC. LSU has won the last two meetings between the two. LSU lost two of their best players on defense. CB Greedy Williams and LB Devin White. But LSU simply replaced the two with five star CB Derek Stingley and five star LB Marcel Brooks. So can Auburn pull off a victory over a top LSU team? To be honest, probably not. But never count Auburn out. 

November, 2 vs Ole Miss
Ole Miss is in a QB battle between Matt Corral and John Rhys Plumlee. Matt Corral should win but who knows. Auburn has handled Ole Miss over the last few seasons. The Tigers should win again as Ole Miss is losing several great athletes. 

November, 16 vs Georgia
Auburn vs Georgia is always a top game to watch. The series has been strange the last few years. In 2017, Auburn won 40-17. In the 2017 SEC Championship Georgia won 28-7. In 2018 Georgia won 27-10. The fact that Auburn plays at home is huge and Georgia could possibly be vulnerable in this game. But remember, Georgia signed 5 five stars. That's insane.

November, 23 vs Samford 
This summary is pretty brief. Sorry Samford. 

November, 30 vs Alabama (Iron Bowl)
When the day of the 2019 Iron Bowl arrives, It'll have been exactly six years ago that Chris Davis returned the 108 yard kick six that beat Alabama. Will something magical happen this year? Tua and the Tide are fast and furious. Bo Nix seems like the perfect player to pull off a miracle. And plus, the whole stadium is on his side. Here's the difference between Alabama and Auburn. Alabama is dominant, Auburn is magical.   

   
          

Auburn DB runs insanely fast 40

Former Auburn DB Jamel Dean ran an incredibly fast 40-yard dash time. On Monday, Dean ran a 4.31. Only two hundredths of a second away from the fastest time of the 2019 NFL Combine. Ole Miss DB Zedrick Woods claimed the fastest time with 4.29.